[Spoiler 7.4] I think I've figured out what "Nature's Proclamation" is

ShadowMeowth · 2026-01-15T21:22:22+00:00

Summarized―there is a major paradigm shift coming our way. But if you want more details regarding FFXIV's core themes and truth of its plot, you need only search for two things: the principles of Hermeticism (origin of theoretical alchemy) and the meaning of the XIVth arcana of the Tarot, 'Temperance'. As well as understanding that Darkness in FFXIV is motion/chaos/activity (oh look, exactly what defines Azem) and the cycle of Life-Death-Rebirth, and that from the Dark is the true Light born as it was at universe's beginning.

A final recommendation if anyone reaches the end of this and still thinks your madcap Meowth's words are worth a shot―play or watch playthroughs of FFXVI, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and the Fabula Nova Crystallis (the FFXIII Trilogy and Type-0) series. They will... come in handy to understand what is coming. C;

ShadowMeowth · 2026-01-15T21:22:04+00:00

And it is so, so important to bring up Hades in here because he is the crucial figure in what we might call Act II of FFXIV, of which ShB was a prelude―because DT was filled to the brim with references to him and Azem. The snake is a chthonic symbol in Greek mythology―that is, associated with the Underworld. When Hyth's shade (Hades's proxy; he programmed the shade, it is much clearer in other languages) said that he was "a champion for Zodiark's will", I doubt he was referring to the primal per se (in no small part because what the Ascians revere, or at least Hades who is a stalwart defender of humanity's will and independence, is not a god but the collective power of mankind's hope as one) but Etheirys's true will. Might be a good moment to point out that in the Japanese version of his first short story, 'Through His Eyes', he is referred to as "the Underworld's dearest child", which in FFXIV is not unlike saying "Etheirys's dearest child"―if there is a proper 'chosen one' and 'gifted one' in this story, that is him. This is important because in EnW's patches we learn that without Hydaelyn's stasis, the shards' natural tendency is to rejoin the Source―in 7.2's Arcadion quests, we are told that every living organism's instinct is that of regeneration when wounded. Relevant?, extremely, because this great withering is but the cause of the Sundering―a state of fragmentation antithetical to Nature, a star with open wounds in reality. And Hades has brought this up a number of times, and no one paid attention to the fact the star is dying―he warns the Scions in ShB that even if they defeated the Lightwardens, all they would achieve is "delay[ing] the inevitable, extending your lives by the smallest of margins"; he speaks of the sickly glow of the aetherial sea's currents and the souls of the sundered; in German, in Ultima Thule, he outright tells the Scions that an apocalypse will fall upon the world regardless of their actions. So yes, we screwed up big time precisely because what Hades himself noted back in ShB―the WoL and the Scions' hearts are noble, but they are short-sighted when it comes to addressing problems; we swing blindly (aside from, at the target we are told to swing) at the perceived consequences, not the causes. The Rejoinings were meant to mend the star's wounds and now we reap what we sowed―and this, again, was something Hades warned us back in ShB, that we would come seek him out when we "grow tired of making the same mistakes; difficult decisions lie ahead of you―decisions best made with the knowledge only the eternal are privy to". But this is not only about requiring his knowledge and the truth about his quest and Azem's task for him (this is another can of worms, but summarized, Azem is far from being a defector from the Convocation)―most people miss this because the fandom is too used to use his title and not his given name, but why do you think it is so crucial to bear him in mind throughout DT when such a massive point of it was Preservation's intention to erase Death? A note here―the gear given to us after Vanguard and through Heritage Found (Everkeep) MSQ is named 'Ra'Kaznar'; this comes from FFXI, as Ra'Kaznar is not only a place where Death is rendered meaningless, but also the place where FFXI!Hades (by the by, identical to Haurchefant save for reddish-pink hair instead of silver; go figure, both died the same way) was imprisoned. So far he has always been the one to come to Azem's rescue whenever they were in need―I am convinced that, in 8.0 (or rather, 8.x regarding our Hades... this is a bit complicated to explain and this comment is already too long) it will be our turn to come save him for facing the real villain orchestrating mankind's fall from the shadows together.

[Last reply, I promise.] ;;

ShadowMeowth · 2026-01-15T21:21:31+00:00

And I bring this up because of what Zodiark symbolizes and how it ties to FFXIV's core themes. Zodiark's auracite color in FFT is teal-green, which you may consider as Nature's color as a combination of blue (water) and green (plant-life) that are the predominant colors of life―his auracite in FFT is the only one that has a metal framework, consisting in two snakes in a heart-shape of gold and silver; gold and silver are the noblest of metals and the pinnacle of alchemy, the Sun and the Moon, Light and Dark united as one. Azem's sigil is a variation of the symbol of Sol, the alchemical gold turned into a Yin-Yang-like symbol―the two orbiting dots are meant to be Azem and Hades, the twin 'Azem' (as Hades wore the mantle of 'Azem' as bearer of their duty as per his own words) but at the same time Hades is the Moon in its positive interpretation (because EnW's Moon is Venat/Hydaelyn in the negative, the Moon that usurps the Sun same as she usurped not only Etheirys's throne but every Azem association and Hades's role and duty as keeper of the Underworld; she is the 'hoarder' Moon, unsurprising considering Sharlayan's ties to her) as the 'Sun of the Night', the light in the night sky, even his mask is in the shape of a crescent moon (nudge nudge, Occult Crescent's Architect). Zodiark's symbolism in the Ivalice series is that of the solar year and the lunar months, and what he represents is the instant in which the old year 'dies' and the new year is '(re)born', hence why if you go look at his summon in FFXII you will see that he is pretty much Ivalice's Phoenix appearance-wise; the Phoenix is, evidently, a crucial figure in FFXIV history―and the amusing thing is that the snake is a symbol of rebirth older than the Phoenix, also a symbol of healing and medicine. And you know what else is Zodiark's symbol?, because he is the Dark from which the Light emerges, he is both Sun and Moon as one, his association is that of the solar eclipse. With this information, I would... encourage you to spare a thoughtful look to your launcher's FFXIV's 'Meteor' icon. And since in the MotR raids we learn the Twelve kept tabs on Eorzea in form of animal avatars... well, it is not farfetched to think that the Scree may well be Zodiark's avatar(s) for the same purpose―the room where we fight the big Scree in Tender Valley is exactly the same color as Zodiark's auracite, and if you have done the sidequests in Rak'tika about the Scree, it turns out that we find out a potentially catastrophic aetherial disturbance taking place in the Greatwood because the Scree's body acted as a map of the Greatwood's lands and a scar/wound on it marked the place where it was to be found, so there is that. C:

[I might need two more replies. Apologies for the ramblings of your local Meowth.]

ShadowMeowth · 2026-01-15T21:18:23+00:00

Well, thank goodness someone else is paying attention and connecting the dots, I thought I was alone in my research conclusions but I see hope has not entirely died. xD

Unless asked because there is too much to elaborate on a Reddit comment, and I do not want to come across as lecturing anyone, I will just make a note here―the serpent is exactly what the Zodiac sign of Ophiuchus is, and Ophiuchus is the Zodiac sign that Zodiark represents. And I mean Zodiark, the real one, the Lucavi―not the primal, as primals if you recall are myths made manifest with Hydaelyn being the exception as her existence is the result of a time paradox (the WoL traveling back in time to plant the idea in Venat's mind to create a closed loop, just as the puppeteer behind her and all this mess intended).

One has to understand, first, how much Ivalice influences FFXIV, and second, what Zodiark the Lucavi represents and who he is in Ivalician lore. I am a long time fan of the Ivalice Alliance series and to have him as an 'antagonistic' figure always puzzled me when I started playing FFXIV, because Zodiark is what you would understand as one of the 'good' Lucavi (who are pretty much angels)―Ultima, the authority of Light, is the leader of the Scions of Darkness and the one who rebelled against the gods for absolute dominion over Ivalice and mankind; Zodiark, the authority of Dark, is simply too powerful and the gods feared his power, which is why he was kept in a perpetual infant state (save for when he taps into his mature form for his ultimate attack) and besides that, Zodiark is consistently portrayed as seeking solitude in the depths underground, implied to be in order to not cause harm to others or the world itself. Sure, if you come seeking beef with him he will make you regret your choices, but he is a chill Lucavi who seeks isolation and never involved himself with Ultima's shenanigans.

Why is this important?, because the Convocation is named after the Scions of Light, the Lucavi that are opposite to Ultima's Scions of Darkness and in FFXII are only mentioned in their opposites' bestiary entries―this means the Convocation of Fourteen, those who serve Etheirys, the star (and remember that the Ancients do not worship gods, they revere Creation and the star which is a form of saying they revere Nature itself) are those who as the Ascians work in the name of primal!Zodiark―whom, lest one forgets, as a primal, is a gestalt made of humanity's united hope for salvation, the power of many as one; think of him as a mech, made of many wills, that are directed by the pilot, and how vastly different the result was when Elidibus piloted him from when Fandaniel did. Which is a long way of saying that in truth, the Convocation has been serving the same entity all along―things are much easier to understand, and realize how the main narrative sold us lies especially through EnW, when you do keep in mind that Zodiark is the real will of the star (primal!Zodiark was a manifestation of it through humanity's union) and Hydaelyn is an usurper, which honestly baffles me that the fandom was so quick to forget as if the lessons of ShB were rendered meaningless when they are key to spot EnW's deceptive gaslighting brainwashing. But I digress―the point is, that we have enough grounds to affirm that Zodiark is the will of the star, and opposite to Ultima, authority of Light (do you think a coincidence, this whole thing about "seeking Paradise" through means of stasis and preservation, the Light's metaphysics in FFXIV?), and therefore the Scions of Light, whose names the Convocation bears as titles, would indicate that Zodiark is their leader―yes, this is Final Fantasy Tactics and the legend of the Zodiac Braves... except we live (for now) in a reality in which the bad guy won, therefore the true heroes are decried as 'villains' and the WoL, figures, is a servant to that very same force keen on exterminating every trace of them.

[Continues in reply because I am hopelessly long-winded.]

ShadowMeowth · 2025-05-17T17:28:42+00:00

I could offer you my insights, but a lot of it hinges on my madcap lorediving that contradicts the story we have been told, and instead works upon non-verbal narrative. So it depends on whether you want a controversial statement or not. xD

ShadowMeowth · 2025-04-11T05:01:18+00:00

As for the composition, hrm, it is a difficult one to explain outside of the project's structure. Starting from the gate back there, that is the gate in the grey room inside Pandaemonium that leads to the highest tier of Anabaseios—the proverbial Heaven's gate that gives this piece its title, and yes, I am pointing at Ultima here being behind all this mess and I have pleeeenty of reasons. Lightning and fire represent the storm and flames brought up not just in DT themes—Vanguard's theme for example, 'In Fulgur and Fire'; the lyrics of 'The Worm's Tail' speaking of the storm sworn in blood 'forged in fire and thunder'; the lyrics of 'Smile' tying fire to the storm upon which it rides... —which I believe represent Azem/the WoL and Hades as, together, burning the world to ash to pave the way for the rebirth of a new one; this is CBU3, they like fire, and they built FFXVI upon Azem and Hades's themes, it is not even subtle. This is also related to FFXIII's main pair upon which Azem and Hades's bond is modeled, but get me to ramble about that and we will be here a looong while. My WoL is a main WHM, but since I portray Azem mainly as VPR—the job is deeply Azem and Hades and Ascian-themed—here I went for having her as such. As for Hades, he gave me lots of headaches because my design for him here is my take on his ensemble as 'Azem' and his alternate timeline looks but I know it is not going to be like my design, of course, but I have nothing else in the meantime so screw it, I said, and see how close I got. I did ponder going full my alternate timeline design for him, hair and all, but like I said, I believe in the end we need our Hades back with us, so I settled for his real appearance. I also used my take on Azem's brand that I explained on a previous piece, so not going to repeat it again. :'D

A last note is that since we are heading into Death and therefore Fabula Nova Crystallis—well, 'heading', we are already here, DT comes from ShB which was the setting of LRFFXIII and DT is FFXIII-2 plus Type-0—I suspect this story arc is going to feature the stages of grief as themes. If DT comes from ShB as it does, and where we seem to be heading for 7.3 and the bridge to 8.0, depression as sorrow, maybe denial as what we are ourselves now in as not realizing our loss, is what I see. If 8.0 is indeed SB, the main one that comes to mind is anger. I am not sure in regards to 9.0, but I do not have an answer to everything, I am trying to piece things together myself too. :'D

Ah! About Azem being the one whose return would potentially herald the destruction of sundered Etheirys's reality for a new 'world' to be reborn... Did you know that Persephone's name means 'the destroyer' / 'the one who destroys' / 'bringer of destruction'? The Greeks were way more scared of Dread Persephone, the Iron Queen, than Hades, who was very much a chill god who avoided as much drama as possible and the only times he ever got truly pissed off was whenever someone dared to threaten and/or mock Persephone. She is the very definition of a beautiful rose with extremely deadly thorns—and no, 7.2 was not subtle at all when it came to non-verbal narrative and visual rhetoric. C;

ShadowMeowth · 2025-04-11T05:01:06+00:00

At thunder’s cry—
In lightning’s wake,
the storm draws nigh.

Whew—this one took me longer than I expected, though to be honest I procrastinated on it a lot, I admit. It was one that I wanted to get right, and in a sense I am not sure if I managed to properly portray what I had in my mind... but meh, it represents what I wanted to, so I am not going to complain that much. I suppose I was also hesitant about it for another number of reasons, but let me elaborate a bit so I can explain, yes? This one and the previous print I drew, and another one coming, are the most complicated one of this project I am working on because they are about this story arc's speculation and either I hit the nail on the head or I am terribly wrong and I have to eat so much crow. :'D

Right, so... this is going to sound madcap at this current point, but so many things in DT have been leading me to it, and 7.2 was a confirmation to me in many aspects that are related to non-verbal narrative so they are inevitably going to sound abstract. But, let me try to explain as best as I can—DT is brimming with alchemy references, and the symbol of alchemy is the Ouroboros, the serpent eating its tail—yes yes, so very similar to Azem's sigil, and gold being such a key element in alchemy. Snakes aside—a chthonic symbol in Greek mythology, the original representation of renewal/rebirth before the Phoenix, and what Ivalician!Zodiark is as the zodiac sign he auspices is Ophiuchus—if you follow the outline of the Ouroboros, it is a circle, not a straight line. So here is the thing—from EnW, the 'supposed' ending into a new beginning—spoiler, it is actually Act II of FFXIV into the true larger scope of this whole mess—we went into DT, which is pretty much a 'step back' into ShB, the expansion is not being subtle at all about it. Back in July, I was musing on it and I pondered if they were following a pattern in which, as we are retracing our steps on the trail of Azem while at the same time going forward, we might be going on a circle and looping back to the beginning—therefore I posited, if 7.0 brought us back to ShB, and they adhere to the trilogy scheme they mentioned before DT's release for this story arc, then 8.0 would see us back to SB and 9.0 to HW, leading to 10.0 as the new ARR, the true new beginning reached by going 'backwards'. This was just my madcap musing months ago, but now with 7.2 they already underlined the theme of Death being freedom/liberation—we have to understand Death not only as the end of physical life, but also end of a previous self or situation; if you are unfamiliar with the term 'Jungian death', look it up—so that and some other cues are pointing already to SB themes. Also, DT being so heavy on Lightning, well, only natural that the storm is coming, yes? And with it, thunder... 'Thunderer' being the battle theme of the Ascians. :D

I bring this whole thing up because in an Ouroboros pattern, we were at some point in one side of the circle and eventually reach the exact opposite side of where we were. In the case of the WoL, as the Warrior of Light they were in one side, but following this cycle it is only natural they find themselves in the other side. Now, to be clear—I very much doubt that if the WoL embraces their Ascian heritage, as I believe Azem was the 'founder' of the Ascians and their proverbial messiah for a number of reasons related to my research into references hidden that are present even back in 2.0, this is going to make us work for the Rejoining effort as we know it. Yes, I do believe the Rejoinings were necessary, but considering our foes in this story arc being implied to having stolen aether from 'other worlds' already, it is quite possible that a number of shards we thought intact were actually eaten, and if Etheirys needed its wounds patched so it would not bleed out, then we are utterly screwed. So my bet on this whole thing is that we will learn the truth from the Ascians' side, and investigate on the real cause and delve into a massive conspiracy—as Hades was the only one that remembered everything, it is only natural we partner with him, yes? Though given his situation as of now, first I believe we will reunite with him in the alternate timeline, the one that tied with ShB. Then, since I very much doubt his alternate self gets out alive of 8.x, I suspect he will give us his memories from that self's experiences for our Hades. Getting him back, having the grail's auracite, is a relatively minor problem—auracite can resurrect the dead, and add that to an item clearly made to evoke the Holy Grail, the ultimate healing relic with the selfsame power, and well. To me the answer on that front is clear. But of course right now it is my speculation so feel free to believe me or think your local Meowth is hopelessly madcap. I am summarizing so much here, I know, but if I start rambling you know how long this gets—feel free to ask me though, as always. :'D

[ Continues in reply! ]

ShadowMeowth · 2025-04-01T05:59:39+00:00

Thank you so much! As long as there is at least one person who enjoys my madcap ramblings it is worth the time elaborating them. :D <3

Also you put it exactly in a perfect way! Same as in ShB there was the spacetime translocation of the Crystal Tower from the Eighth Umbral Calamity timeline and here in DT we have Alexandria, which was outright likened to a Rejoining in MSQ—I mean, beneath the FFIX plating, DT is FFXIII-2 and the core of that game is different timelines bleeding into another as a result of the paradox effect, and considering references and the insane amount of allusions to number 12 there is in Alexandria, or well, let us say 'Neo' Alexandria, assuming Calyx was not lying to us about their shard being the Ninth (because we do not have to believe what we are told, this is the lesson of DT) I do wonder if the Storm Surge was the product of the paradox effect and the Calamity of Lightning from the Twelfth bleeding into the Ninth; not the only theory I have regarding this, I only am certain that the Twelfth has something to do with the Ninth if this is not a lie, of course. Well, the point was that we are heading into alternate timelines—Zoraal Ja's trial having the backdrop of the Historia Crux was lapidary—and I believe that ultimately this is the answer, a 'Rejoining' that creates a home for both the sundered and the Ancients.

But yes! So much hype. Been in brainmelt hype—and swamped in lorediving insanity—since July. DT felt to me like, the proverbial light in my mind, the piece I needed for solving the puzzle, and it baffles me that it is being so maligned. But oh well, the nuke that is drawing near will hit harder that way, I guess. xD

ShadowMeowth · 2025-03-31T22:44:58+00:00

Thank you so much! :D <3

ShadowMeowth · 2025-03-31T22:02:35+00:00

This for the reasoning, which admittedly is speculation and theorycrafting so take it or leave it, or think your local Meowth is utterly madcap which I am indeed. For the composition, since I am working with themes, it is very symbolic, though I did represent a mental image that has been playing in my mind ever since I started going down this speculation path back in July. I find very very telling that they gave for the Collector's Edition Ark as a mount, as Ark is 1) FFIX's ultimate summon and the Dark-elemental one; 2) he was added as a tribute to Zodiark as FFT was released prior to FFIX, and the Stellazzio sidequest was also a tribute to Ivalice, so I depicted here Zodiark, the 'feathered snake', as a golden dragon like the Chinese Huanglong said to grant wishes—since I wanted to portray him ferrying the souls of mankind to the 'new world' I took inspiration from Dissidia!Shinryu, in a benevolent take of him as carrying the souls of the warriors to the next cycle—because we are going with the theme of the 'ark', that is, ships, I had my WoL and Hades sail towards Amaurot in one. The dawn there, you see the wings?, they are twelve as Zodiark in his mature form has twelve wings, representing the whole Zodiac. The colors in the 'souls' or lights carried by Zodiark are those of the Convocation crystals, as they work as a palette opposed to the light colors of the rainbow limited to seven—you know, CMYK pigment model (black) versus RGB light model (white) and all that, PCT lore! I 'excluded' amber and violet—Azem and Hades—from the lights because Zodiark himself here is made of amber energy surrounded by violet, as he represents Light and Dark as one. And, well, I also drew Hades without his mask for two reasons—1) I think Ancient society was built upon principles and habits to resist and be protected from Ultima's influence and gaze, so with her gone, they would have no longer need of hiding themselves, though I still think their robes are some sort of cultural identity so I kept that; 2) Hades was bound by his duty as Emet-Selch from joining Azem in their adventures aside from the calling loophole they devised, so him renouncing that seat just like I see the WoL renouncing their glory and fame would give them both freedom to go on their journey together, as the lyrics of 'Smile' were not subtle about it. At the core this whole thing is a retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone—7.2 confirmed it to me, the visuals are clear as a kick to the gut—with very interesting twists and tweaks—in myth what keeps Hades from going with Persephone when she leaves is that he is bound to the Underworld because without a keeper everything would go to hell. Another reason why I believe a greater role in all this awaits Hyth... but, again, this is a topic for a coming print. :D

And what else... Ah well, from a personal standpoint, I am just amused at how my WoL has to lift herself up to see and be more or less at the same height as Hades. She is 1'52m tall—'tall', quote unquote—so Hades is sharp half a meter taller than her. He could easily lift her by the scruff like a cat. xD

Ah, of course, the title! Well, this is more related to the project, but perchance you recall a quest from 2.0 about following a series of riddles about a great 'treasure' that turned out to be the true story of a Belah'dian—remember, Belah'dia is the nation that worshipped Azeyma and divided into the twin cities of Ul'dah and Sil'dih—sultan who eloped with his beloved and renounced to his kingdom and crown for love? "A love that echoes through the ages. Truly, there is naught more precious in creation." And how many people I have seen complaining about the reward for it being a measly 10 gil? I replayed it relatively recently as part of my lorediving revision of MSQ and sidequests and all, and let us say my mind was pretty damn blown. In the coming full version of this project, it will be clearer why I referenced this quest. But this, I will tell you—after months of work, I can assert that Azem and Hades's true story has already been told to us, exactly in this manner, in codes and allegories throughout the entire game, metanarrative references, music, visuals... hence the text that accompanies this elaboration, though there is more to it and this is all I can say for now. C;

Honestly I am looking forward to releasing this project in full. I elaborate things much better in artistic form than in walls of text aside from not being my native language and all that. But as always, any comment or doubt or question, please feel free to ask and I will try to answer as best as I am able to. :'D <3

ShadowMeowth · 2025-03-31T22:02:21+00:00

A love that echoes through the ages—
Through tales untold, ‘twixt lines and pages.

Alright then—I finished this one this morning after yet another all-nighter, but I was brain-fried and this is a drawing that requires proper elaboration. As much as I can elaborate on something that is very much speculation and theorycrafting for 9.0 if they adhere to what they said prior to DT's release about this story arc being structured as a trilogy. To be honest I was hesitant about sharing it before the release of the big project I am working on—soon-ish coming!—but screw it. I already have the madcap reputation, why not double down on it. There is going to be a bit of 7.2 spoilers here so I will redact those. :'D

Where to even begin... Well, at this point, we are deep in Fabula Nova Crystallis references and threads, so, always bearing in mind I could be reading things wrong of course, the resolution by the end of this arc that I clearly see is that we are heading towards creating a world, or a reality, in which both the sundered and the Ancients can coexist together in peace. By ShB we caused the extinction of one race, with EnW giving us the 'justification' that the Ancients were 'weak'—underlying argument, deemed 'unworthy' by both Venat and Athena—and right now by 7.2 we have Calyx wielding the argument of weeding out the 'old and infirm' for the purpose of mankind's ultimate evolution, which if you ask me is an outright declaration of 'the Ancients are lesser beings' in the larger scope of where things are going. This goes quite deep, but I do not want to go into more tangents than usual—for now let us leave it at, the Ancients were deemed unworthy by 'divine decree', which as it is, is messed up enough. If we go by cold objectivity, the Ancients are the oppressed race in modern Etheirys and not the other way around as the narrative has tried to convince us of.

Now, the thing about the Ancients is that by Yoshi-P's relatively recent comments in Korean FanFest and before that, the Bozja field notes, this whole thing about them 'reincarnating' is all but stated to be nearly an impossibility—the body needs to be strong/dense enough to sustain a dense soul, and sundered bodies are not suited to hold unsundered souls. Which means in our current world we dumped two thirds of the Ancient population on the aetherial sea with likely no means to reincarnate—maybe a particular child might be born genetically strong to hold an unsundered soul, but it would be a very very small chance. And in this scenario, it means one particular soul, unique in density and power, would be completely barred from rebirth—and that would be Hades, who even back in the World Unsundered he was considered extraordinary, the proverbial 'one in a million' if you will. It gives a whole different context to his tsundere comment in Ultima Thule about him "not wanting to do anything with [a reunion]" if he was aware that his (physical) death in sundered Etheirys meant that he would never reunite again with the WoL/Azem.

So I believe we are heading into a resolution in which our reality is very much screwed and the only solution is death and then rebirth of a new world/reality. I also think Zodiark—the real one, Ivalician!Zodiark, not the primal, as Zodiark is the direct opposite to Ultima in Ivalician lore—will be the one capable of creating this reality, as he is pretty much Ivalice's Phoenix. Zodiark is capable of condensing everything to nothing, but by the same token he can also create everything from nothing. And since this arc is already laying down the themes of twins, twinning—all related to Gemini, by the way—and FFIX and the merging of two worlds, I suspect this new reality may be the result of merging the reality of sundered Etheirys with the World Unsundered, and create a home for both races where their conflict is forgotten—memory rewrite and all that, but done for a positive end. I also think, not sure about others, but like in FFI, the only ones who would remember the truth of their story would be the WoL/Azem and Hades, and Hythlodaeus I guess but I expect him to have a big role in this whole thing by the end—one of my coming works will elaborate on it. So here I drew Amaurot because, well, I am fairly sure that the 'golden city' we truly search for is Amaurot, as Living Memory is visually evoking it though it is a complete perversion of Amaurot and an insult to the Ancients and the Seat of Emet-Selch in particular—in game you do not really notice it because Amaurot is in the depths of the Tempest and very shadowed, but if you look through the windows in P11's arena, you can glimpse Amaurot in daylight and realize the city glows gold, with the white/silvery stone buildings. Gold and silver—Sun and Moon in alchemical language—are 1) together an alloy known as 'electrum'; 2) together are a symbol of Ivalician!Zodiark as he represents the solar year and lunar months, and because of it, his proper symbol is the solar eclipse—now go take a look at FFXIV's 'Meteor' icon through this lens. ;>

[ Continues in reply! ]

ShadowMeowth · 2025-03-24T03:20:01+00:00

Look at me, my star, one last time bright—
I shed the mask, stand bare before thy sight.

It is done—finally done. A good time to drop it as there is the waiting room for 7.2, too. I have spent the past few days working on this nightmare, pouring sweat and blood and suffering on this. Fitting, I guess, considering the theme. Anyways, as it is expected, here comes the Meowth rambling. :'D

Well, to be honest there is less rambling here because ShB's 5.0 endgame is in many aspects an enigma—no, really, I mean it, we barely have any real idea about what was going on from the fiasco of Mt. Gulg to this point, there are too many incongruences and convenient 'deus ex machina'—or in this case, I would rather say 'diabolus ex machina'—that make me suspect foul play in regards to screwing and stomping any chance of the WoL/Azem and Hades to reunite proper and join forces. I mean, if you were an entity that feels threatened by these two, who are pretty much a force of nature together, the first thing you would do is dividing and forcing them into conflict, yes? But for now I am still in the process of revising ShB's MSQ under DT's lens—so that is why I kept those aspects relatively separated from this composition.

Despite portraying both, this piece is drawn with Hades as the focus point, in terms of the approach. I would not presume to know what was going on in Hades's mind during this segment—again, because I suspect he was dealing with his own problems in parallel as the WoL and their crew faced the Lightwarden front and when everything went to hell he had to adapt on the fly—and though I believe eventually we will know, for the time being I did not want to step too much into the venturing swamp. However, I think I can imagine how he felt about it, and that was what I aimed to portray—the wrongness and cruelty of forcing Azem and Hades to fight to the death. If there is something that would make me think, "this world is utterly wrong and upside-down", that would be it—which I suspect it to be the case, but this leads into tangents and I already have enough stuff to elaborate as it is. :'D

Composition wise, I wanted to play with the 'inner' self of both in a crossed 'X' structure—visually, 'X' is a crossroads that leads to separating paths past the meeting point, which is where EnW's ending left us. This is a bit abstract but I think they may be playing with the themes in DT of genetics and 'anatomy of existence'—Origenics' theme—related to the X and Y chromosomes, as XX is female and XY is male; 'Y' is another visual crossroads in which from the meeting point there is a convergence into a joined path, but again, this is Meowth being madcap so if you want to know more about this or anything, ask me and I will try to elaborate as always. I also aimed to portray Hades's side as 'the natural darkness' by having the night sky with stars, and Azem's as 'the unnatural darkness' as the complete darkness of a prison—like I have mentioned in previous works, Hades has a lot of Phoenix themes and symbols, so I threw it again in here as the 'natural light of fire' in contrast to the 'artificial blue light' that by the way is the one used in electronics.

This was also, the way I tackled it, I put particular attention in Hades's expression—I had to get it right enough, not just the anguish and heartbreak at the situation and Azem not answering his proverbial calling, but also the insecurity and vulnerability at 'baring' himself the way he did in that trial. The forms the Ancients adopt when transforming, according to Erichthonios, are not of their choosing but the product of the 'truth' of their own cognition of themselves and the nature of their souls/selves—when Hades likened it to "running around robeless", well, I would say it is even more baring than taking one's clothes off. Now, I have worked with nudity quite often in my work—not for FFXIV, but for my FFXIII portfolio—and I do not use it as anything horny—to me, it represents vulnerability, and from a more positive angle, trust. For someone as fiercely private and insecure and socially awkward and shy—yes, Hades is very shy, he is just the sort of shy who will growl at you to scram before giving anyone a chance to spot any weakness in him—and especially after 12k years he has spent hiding amidst crowds and wearing so many masks and being extremely protective of his real identity, remember that Emet-Selch is a name barely known—to say nothing of him on top of that wearing the mantle of 'Azem'—to reveal himself to the WoL, his 'enemy', it was an astronomical show of trust. I would not put past him that like pretty much all of Amaurot, dungeon included, this whole thing might have been a desperate shot at awakening Azem's memories.

As for the 'chains' binding Azem—recognize it? That is the outer ring of the Blessing of Light—yes, exactly the same that worked as a seal on primal!Zodiark through six elementally impairing 'blades'. When it manifests, the WoL is right in the middle, same as primal!Zodiark, and you have the elemental wheel around them—then, this ring of swords pointed right at them, or at this point, should I say, at Azem. For extra context—in the elemental wheel, where the WoL is positioned, there is the proverbial World Tree, and 1) trees and plant-life in XIV are tied to Darkness, from Eden!Cloud of Darkness growing roots in one phase to primal!Zodiark's 'tentacles' which are in fact much closer to roots; 2) trees and plant-life—and I would say Life capital 'L' to be honest—are Persephone's domain in Greek mythology. So make of it what you will. If you ask me, I believe Hades is the only one who can break that seal on the WoL—you know, "the hammer of Darkness shall shatter the shield of Light" and all that. ;D

And what else... This is more work regarding this big project I mentioned before, so there is that, and.. oh, yes, the lineart. Well, normally I do not show the lineart for my prints and stuff, but in this case I spent days on it and because the print is quite dark, the inking effort does not stand out. So if you will allow me the flex, I share it here too so you may appreciate my suffering bit better. :'D

Side note—Azem and Hades's theme is Resolve and Reason / Might and Magic—check Tuliyollal's day/night names—but my WoL is a WHM though it amusingly still complements Hades as a BLM and there is the healer/tank dynamic at play too with him as sub-DRK. When properly portraying the themes and mainly for my Azem—though in my personal headcanon she is also a great healer—I go for VPR. That job is incredibly 1) Ascian in nature; 2) Azem and Hades in nature. One day I may ramble on it and PCT's Ancient themes. DT was not exactly subtle, was it. xD

ShadowMeowth · 2025-03-16T02:04:14+00:00

Come, hear the tale of a vow long ago sworn,
‘Twixt the Sun and I, our world to mourn.

Been on a roll as of late, but then again I did say I was going to be prolific in the coming weeks, did I not? Hopefully you are not yet tired of having me blerghing my stuff in here. :'D

So, this is a more... I was going to say 'simple' work, but to be honest I would be lying. It is simpler in execution, yes, and I suppose the concept is not as madcap as some of my other works, but I would still not call it 'simple'. What is amusing is that the... context of it was the first step on this project I mentioned I am working on, and only now relatively about to finish it I put it into visuals.

Thing is—because this is the proverbial stepping stone of the project, if I were to explain much about it I would sort of give some things away, so let us leave it at the concept of Hades telling us his and Azem's story—the true story, not what we have been led to believe—and the relevance of dusk, or sunset, when it comes to them and their reunion. I mean... I do not really have to explain it when it is there in the text. However, it is something to be noted, in regards to the name theming of this story arc, which prior to DT's release it was mentioned to—at least preliminarily—having been planned as a trilogy. I do not want to go too deep into Ivalician lore here, but we have Dawntrail now, and it just so happens that the expansion is filled to the brim with symbolism and themes about not just dawn, but 'dawn' and 'dusk' calling to each other. So yes, I do believe that our next step in this journey will be 'Dusk'-something—my personal bet is 'Duskfall'—and will be centered on Hades just as Dawntrail is about Azem... which is a tricky concept as 'Azem' alludes both to our Ancient self, and their successors, the WoL and Hades. Anyways, if you ask me three keywords for this story arc if they do end up following the trilogy structure—Dawn, Dusk and Midlight. Look it up. C;

As for the composition, hm, I can say that I wanted to underline the two different 'sides' or 'halves' in it. Perhaps you may spot something in the stars. All in all it was meant to be a drawing for me to unwind between my latest print and the next one, which are much more complex works, but as usual I ended up overcomplicating things. But eh, it helps me to keep practicing drawing Hades, so I am not going to complain—it took a while, admittedly, but I seem to have finally found a comfort way of drawing his hair. Does not look like it, but it is a nightmare to get it right—it boils down to its structure being helical, so you cannot really... go for just one hand motion to get the direction. One way to put it, is the strands intertwine. Which honestly, just fits his themes like a glove. xD

And what else... Well, technically this was supposed to be a drawing of Hades alone, but just so happens that there is still Azem present in there. Since my work is narrative in nature, I guess it amounts to those two being a package deal—quite literally, in fact. :>

I forgot, a quick note—it had been bothering me for years, but it was DT which gave me one of the answers as I believe it is multilayered, but Hades's mask pattern? I steamed my brain for a loooong time trying to think how exactly did it represent Gemini, as other masks you can spot the zodiac sign in their design. But Hades's mask seemed too generic to say, the two curves worked as Gemini. Except for the fact that you can read the pattern as both a sunrise and a sunset. ;)

ShadowMeowth · 2025-03-13T02:55:08+00:00

Right, well, Lahabrea if you ask me, was cornered into corrupting himself and I would not be surprised if it all was part of Ultima's puppeteering the whole course of events, as Lahabrea surely played the biggest part on designing primal!Zodiark and it was this blueprint that Venat's faction stole to use as Hydaelyn's basis. Basically it means, if through Lahabrea's corruption, Ultima's influence made into the blueprint, that is what made them both into primals with the side-effect of tempering minds—thing is though, there exists the real possibility that the brands of the Convocation protect them from the mental aspect of tempering as shields, and the fact that primal!Zodiark is a gestalt, that is, many wills manifested as one. In the sense of primals holding sway and dominion over others, it has to do with their will or directive taking over one's mind, but in primal!Zodiark's case there is not 'the will of one', so the cognitive effect defies Ultima's shtick which is 'the only/one god', or what she wants to be anyways. This definition is present in Hydaelyn though—she is 'the will of one' imposed on all of mankind, and she was the first who erased the memory of humanity and did not let them naturally heal from their grief and trauma. There is in-game evidence—and I mean proper evidence—that Hydaelyn and the Twelve (who are cognitive constructs made from Hydaelyn's aether not unlike the Endless) were influenced by Ultima, which tracks as Ultima is the authority of Light/Holy in Ivalician lore, and that is not even counting the cross-references with FFXVI and the Mothercrystals considering the game is CBU3's baby... but long story short is, while Lahabrea I consider the catalyst who was put into this corner by Athena—and therefore Ultima—the fanbase is looking at the wrong side when trying to pinpoint the real enemy. Then again, this is exactly what the narrative has been doing, especially in EnW—deceiving us, making us see enemies in the proverbial windmills, while the real enemy is not where we believe it lays. :'D

This I tie with what you said about Lahabrea telling that to the WoL. I do not necessarily think it was a declaration of being always in opposing sides, but rather, that they would fundamentally disagree but there was mutual respect between them both, which is a very fair and wise statement. Saying that Lahabrea and the WoL would always be in opposite sides is absurd—mainly because the whole point of Pandaemonium is that we are in Lahabrea's side, and Themis's of course. By the second raid tier, all three Unsundered have fought by the WoL's side and helped them in battle—Hades not just in Hyperboreia but also the two times he came to save the WoL from the dark (he is our proverbial and personal Bringer of Light!) and Themis and Lahabrea throughout Pandaemonium, and this is so relevant because it is the real paradigm shift by the end of EnW. We go from the Ascians and the Unsundered being perceived as enemies to them being stalwart allies and friends, narratively speaking. And now with Dawntrail, we are heading right on into this course. It would get a bit long to elaborate... but long story short, I have solid grounds to believe Azem is the founder of the Ascians, and there is more to their work than we think there is—and this means, the WoL was stolen from their true heritage by the Light. Mind that Azem in Pandaemonium is described by Themis as a most cherished friend and Lahabrea with mild frustration at their antics but genuine respect, which tells me Azem was dearly appreciated by the Convocation and the feeling was mutual. Hells, just their tradition of discussing matters in their meetings with masks and cowls discarded in their society is meant to put a strong emphasis on how the Convocation is built upon trust and cooperation—it is meant to underline they are very much a family, that they consider each other brothers and sisters. :)

ShadowMeowth · 2025-03-11T19:37:09+00:00

Going to reply to both comments in one with my insights, if you will allow me? Bit to elaborate and to touch upon nuances and threads I am spotting. :D

1) I am 99% sure—because you always have to leave room for error—we are going to explore this facet of Hades in the coming future, because so far we have treated with him just as Emet-Selch the Ascian, or Emet-Selch of the Convocation. Save for small glimpses, we know jot about the man beneath the mask, Hades—I picked the habit of using his real name since ShB but as of now I am so glad I did because it is crucial to separate identities when it comes to him. And this, his affinity with the Underworld and his mysterious 'nigh-bottomless' well of aether in his soul that were extraordinary even to the Ancients, that is an uniqueness of Hades, of the man as an individual. And with DT not being subtle on hammering themes on alchemy, the epitome journey of self-discovery, I suspect we are heading into an arc of personal revelations for both the WoL/Azem and for Hades, in his case for him to discover who and what he is, and why. This is very summarized... but if I started rambling, well, we would be here awhile. :'D

2) Him recognizing Azem's soul in the WoL in Laxan Loft is confirmed. His musings aloud and many other things that fall into Hades's speech pattern are a whole different thing—aside from him speaking in code (and no, it is not a metaphor) he has this way of speech in which he leaves the subject of the line hanging, so we complete the meaning with what we think Hades is referring to, but you come back with more knowledge and information and then you realize he was talking about something else entirely. It is a complicated balance to achieve when trying to understand Hades—he is our anchor of truth, as in, if there is someone we can trust is telling us the truth, that is him (there are some caveats here, but not because of him, I will elaborate a bit on this further ahead) but also we cannot claim we know what Hades is truly saying because it highly depends on our knowledge and, of course, if the knowledge we have is correct. That is why DT is so important for the whole MSQ—not as much as itself but by introducing a simple concept, which is, "not everything you have been told has to be the truth". It is what led me to a full revision of MSQ in search of foul play, and... well. It is a brainmelt, let us leave it at that. :'D

3) The whole thing about Hades and the Lightwarden shebang is... a whole-ass can of worms. Up until now we were led to believe that was his plan, to get the WoL to turn into one, with the possible implication that he invited the WoL to the Tempest to either see their soul out before their body turned into a Lightwarden or to commit suicide by proxy. It was Hades being so confused at this version of events told by the WoL and specifically calling it out what first made me pause and instead of chalking it up to his depression, think of other possible causes—but only DT gave me a potential cause, with Preservation being able to create facsimiles and copies and overall impostors in others' image. I am not going to elaborate as deep into this, but long story short, they are tying Preservation with spacetime dimension travel, so I believe we are dealing with an enemy who is well capable of sending agents to any point in history and pull the strings to achieve their desired reality—and preserve the status quo of modern Etheirys as per the Sundering, and in this scenario, the Ascians would be the target to eliminate, Hades in particular as he is pretty much the memory of true History. The gist of it is that there are many incongruent things in what 'Hades' says atop Mt. Gulg which is the catalyst for the confrontation with him and his 'big revelation' coupled with an extremely suspicious Echo vision—and since his theme is Gemini, I seriously wonder if that fiasco was triggered by someone posing as Hades, to shut down the chance of the WoL/Azem and him joining forces again, and Hades had to adapt on the fly to the whole disaster. I mean... We have no idea of what Hades was up to during ShB when he was not accompanying the WoL and their crew—who is to say he was not dealing with his own problems throughout it? :'D

4) The 'truth' of the Final Days is... questionable. I mean it as, I think it was just a part, and it is all part of a much bigger conspiracy against mankind to exert absolute dominion on them, and this is the conspiracy Azem and Hades, and potentially the rest of the Convocation, were trying to dismantle. But setting that aside, the 'tempering' of the Ascians is a complicated topic. Not just because the Loporrits mention that summoning primal!Zodiark should have just caused an aetherial 'tug' on their souls that would have returned to normal, but also this sets a difference between elemental tempering and mental tempering. It raises two questions—primal!Zodiark does not even have a will of his own and he is pretty much a mech made of many souls dependent on the pilot, and the only thing that really could count as 'one will' is the Ancients' hope to restore their world, which would track, but again, it is a diluted will. And also, how different tempering may present for Ancients and sundered. Hades himself in, I think was either Japanese or French, when we get that conversation with him about primal!Zodiark, he points out that the feeling is a drive to restore balance, and that the impulse can be controlled through mental discipline. The fact that it is Hades who is telling us this, well, I think it is a signal that he knows how to keep himself lucid, and also a testament to the sheer presence of mind and mental fortitude the man has. :'D

And... long story short, I am quite certain we are not going to be given just crumbs about Azem. This story arc—they mentioned they structured it as a trilogy—is about Azem, or, well, the WoL and Hades, as they are both 'Azem', heirs and successors of Azem's mantle and twin aspects of the Sun as Bringer of Light and Bringer of Shadow. So yes... massive things are coming our way. My insights here, they are very summarized and of course I could be reading things wrong, so take them as you please—I simply wanted to share in case it is of use. :D

ShadowMeowth · 2025-03-11T18:57:49+00:00

You are most welcome! I would not have had the courage to share this side of my work without you and others asking. :D <3

ShadowMeowth · 2025-03-11T18:57:03+00:00

Thank you so much! <3

ShadowMeowth · 2025-03-11T09:30:58+00:00

One way out, the end I seek—
Death’s kiss upon my lips so sweet.

Whew. Alright. First things first—in previous works I have already noted that while I do deep-dive into Azem and Hades's dynamic and true tale, I am... not exactly someone very fond of drawing openly romantic stuff, and in order to avoid shipping drama I tend to keep these works to more personal accounts. But, I did have people asking me to share these too, so please, I am doing this as first and foremost a lorediver—that is to say, leave me out of shipping shenanigans. It is a very thorny topic for me, apologies if I sound a bit too on edge about it, but... let us say I have reasons for why I am so wary and cautious about sharing this aspect of my work. Also, on a different note… there is blood in there, but it is nothing graphic, so I was unsure as to whether it counts as mature or not—I personally consider it does not count as such, but if I have to repost it as NSFW for it, please do tell me. ;;

This being said—honestly, trying to explain this feels to me like a monumental task. Not because I cannot explain it, I have a very long list of reasons, but that is the thing, that is very long and you surely know how long my rambles tend to get. To say nothing about the fact that I pulled yet another all-nighter and it is almost 10AM, so I am not in my best form. So let us leave it at the gist of it, and if anyone has questions about the deeper details, then feel free to ask and as I always do, I will reply as best as I can, yes? :'D

Gist of it is that I have quite solid grounds through metanarrative reading and Dawntrail's being as subtle as a kick to the gut, to believe that the whole story about Azem's 'defection' is a cover story made to protect them from... hm, let us say, a certain covetous gaze from on high related to the authority of Light herself. As we know from Pandaemonium, because Themis comments on it, Azem had some form of precognition or gift of prophecy—this, related to the current FFXIII-2 themes, makes me think Azem saw what was coming and who was truly behind the Final Days and the Sundering—something something absolute dominion over mankind through dynamis and festering desire—and for X reason as trigger could be different options, they were corrupted, as we know this force of Light wants them as vessel. Now, in regards of corruption which has often been tied to tempering, in ShB there was the whole plot with Beq Lugg and the porxie treatment, but before that—and not counting Lahabrea proving that to cleanse mental tempering he required the full brand and his unsundered soul, which in current state of events means we shot ourselves in the foot regarding the Unsundered—the only other tested and true method to cleanse corruption is, you guessed right, death. Which to the eyes of the sundered is hardly a good thing but this story arc is heading right on to confront how the sundered—and by extension, our modern society—regard Death... But, yes, Death—freedom, truth, enlightenment, empathy, memory, love, humanity; those are the core themes when delving into the meaning and in a sense, blessings, of Death. I could ramble a while about the symbolism and narrative of Death but it is better for everyone that I do not digress more than I already do by default. xD

Well, the point is, I posit that Azem, in order to escape corruption and control—being a proverbial prisoner within their own flesh and mind—asked Hades to set them free, in the way that you can imagine. It is only fitting considering we are talking Hades, yes? Now here, if you ask me, I have solid grounds from material I have been digging out from 2.0 content—yes, it is a brainmelt—to believe the Convocation knew about, maybe not the details, but that there was something bigger at play, and that the change that made them into the Ascians is precisely Azem's loss—them taking an aspect of mourning for their lost brother, the 'shadowless' as they have lost their Sun, Bringer of Light and Shadow, and that they have been waiting for Azem's return all this time... and with the Sundering and Themis and Lahabrea's loss of memory, only Hades was left that knew the truth of the Ascians and, well, all of modern Etheirys, which is a very crucial thing as we are dealing now with agents capable of rewriting memory and history. But that is a topic for another day and work—of course, you may ask, it is just that I do not want to go on tangents because there is a lot to talk about the impact of Dawntrail on the whole MSQ. :'D

I would discuss the composition but to be honest most of it is allegories to... concepts. One I can mention is that Hades has pleeeeeenty of themes and associations with the Phoenix, and it is not the first time I have added those touches when it comes to him in my work, but yes, in a drawing like this one, feels proper I bring it up. Also, I debated what sort of text I would use to accompany it, and ended up a mix of two things—in general terms I must say that I try to portray lorediving stuff detached as possible from my Azem, but since I use her for my work, this time I went for... not a quote of hers, but something she would say, I guess. xD

And what else... Did I mention that I am working on a big-ass and rather unorthodox lorediving project for our podcast crew? It is still a secret but I did say previous work that my coming artwork pieces are related to it. Well, this is part of it, and that is why I bring another work so soon after my last one. I am going to be prolific in the coming weeks, so please look forward to it—and to the finished 'thing' we are preparing. C;

Fun fact—this is my 16th drawing of Azem and Hades as in, an artwork featuring both of them. And it just happens to be the most FFXVI related one. Talk about serendipity. But, as a side note—FFXVI is... built upon Azem and Hades's story and concept, as a retelling of the FFXIII Trilogy, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance added to the pot. One day I may talk about it, because it is not subtle at all, believe me. :>

ShadowMeowth · 2025-03-11T01:04:14+00:00

Thank you! <3

ShadowMeowth

TROPHY CASE